ATE: YES! I finally made myself finish this chap and glad that it's done. I added a bit more to this chap than I was planning (since the part involving the church was going to all be the whole of chap 12), but I feel like I owe it to you guys for waiting so patiently for me to update this story. I'd like to thank Blaid and Ginga no Yousei for their reviews and for anyone who is still reading this story. Now you can read.
Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga or anything related to it. I only own my OC Ayame, and my friend owns her OC Lilith.
Chapter 11
I woke up to find myself lying on the ground. I looked around me as I stood up, holding my injured arm and seeing that I was no longer in the cave. Instead, I was standing in what appeared to be a forest.
"Where am I?" I asked myself. I noticed that I didn't see anyone else around. "Where is everyone?"
I was alone in a place I wasn't familiar with and I didn't know where everyone was. Should I stay where I am or wander around in this forest? If I were to stay where I am I wouldn't get lost, but the downside is that I wouldn't be able to find anyone and they wouldn't know where I was. But if I were to choose to wander into this forest I would be taking the risk of getting lost, but I would possibly find someone in this place.
"Either way, I'll still be in this forest. The question is: should I stay or should I go?" I thought. I started thinking over my choice until I got my answer. "I'll go."
I started walking through the forest in a random direction, aware that I didn't know where I was going.
"I wonder if everyone's okay." I thought.
After searching for some time I came upon a clearing and walked into it while in deep thought.
"What if they're somewhere else? Or if they were killed? No! Don't think like that! They're probably okay!"
I suddenly felt something heavy fall on my back, causing me to fall to the ground and lay on my stomach. I hissed in pain when my left arm impacted the ground. Whatever fell on me was now sitting on top of me, straddling my back. This prevented me from getting up. I then felt what seemed to be the barrel of a gun to the back of my head and froze.
"Don't move!"
I shut my eyes tightly and hoped that I wouldn't get shot as silence filled the air. Twice! This has happened twice already, the first time I managed to get out with an injured arm, but this time I might not be so luck.
"Ayame?"
I felt the barrel being removed from behind my head after that was said. I opened my eyes and released the breath I just realized I was holding. I turned my head as much as I could look behind me and saw Jr. sitting on top of my back, a surprised look on his face.
"Jr.!" I said excitedly. "I finally found someone!"
"Really? The others weren't with you?" He asked.
"No. You're the only person I've found. Do you have any idea where we are?"
"Not a clue. I don't recognize the area."
"I hope the others are okay." I turned my head and looked around.
I felt something rubbing my back and looked at Jr. to see that he was the one doing it. I blushed as he did this and could feel my heart beating faster.
"Jr., what are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I didn't mean for this to happen."
"It's okay."
"No, it's not okay!" I could feel him playing with my hair, making me feel a shiver go down my spine. "Do you have any idea what I was close to doing? If I hadn't been paying attention, I would've shot you! You would've ended up being dead and I would've been responsible!"
I opened my mouth to say something but I wasn't sure what to say.
"Don't say anything. You realize your death would've been caused by my own hands." I felt him lay on top of me and wrap his arms around me. His face was near mine and his left cheek rested on the back of my head behind my right ear. I could feel his warm breath on my ear and skin, causing me to feel bumps form on my arms. "I don't want to lose you…" He whispered in my ear, causing more bumps to form. "…ever."
My heart started to beat faster and louder to the point that I could hear it in my ears, and I think that he could hear it as well.
"Red!"
I felt Jr. sit up and we looked up to see Lilith and chaos coming into the clearing we were in. The look on Lilith's face was livid and before I knew it she pulled Jr. off me and slammed his back into a nearby tree. She held him by the collar of his shirt in an iron-like grip while Jr. winced in pain from his impact with the tree.
"What did you do to her?" Lilith yelled furiously as she glared at Jr.
"I didn't do anything!" He yelled back.
"Don't give me that! I saw you on her!"
"It wasn't like that!"
As this was going on I had been able to get back to my feet, standing up straight a I watched what was happening.
"Lilith, stop!" I cried.
"You're so despicable! I thought you would be able to control your hormones by now!" It seemed like she didn't hear me.
"I said STOP!" I shouted, my eyes shut tight.
After I said this everyone went quiet. I opened my eyes and saw that everyone had stopped what they were doing and stared at me wide-eyed. Even Lilith stopped as well, surprised (like Jr. and chaos) by the fact that I shouted.
"That's enough, Lilith!" My hands were balled into fists. "He didn't do anything. He just thought I was an enemy and ambushed me. It wasn't until he looked that he realized it was me."
Lilith stared at me for awhile before she released her hold on Jr.'s shirt, causing him to drop to the ground unceremoniously.
"Is that right?" She started walking over to me and stood right in front of me before leaning her face close to my left ear. "I hope you realize what you're doing." She whispered. "Because if you end up getting too deep into this, I won't be able to get you out." She pulled back a bit to look me in the eye. "If you're going to give me orders try being more assertive next time."
With that Lilith walked passed me without another word. I was confused by what she told me. What did she mean? What was it that I was getting myself into?
"Ayame?"
I snapped out of my thoughts and found myself kneeling in front of Jr. where he sat on the ground, his back leaning against the tree. I must've walked over here without realizing it while I was thinking.
"Are you okay, Jr.?" I asked.
"Yeah, but that was my line. You never shout at anyone unless it's one of our enemies." Jr.'s eyes showed concern. "What's happening to you?
"I don't know, Jr. I just don't know…and that scares me."
"Maybe your memories are affecting you."
I let my gaze fall to the ground.
"If that's so then I don't want to remember…"
"Don't say that!" Jr. placed his hands on both sides of my face and forced me to look at him, to look into those blue eyes that he had that burned with so many emotions I was unable to make out. This took my by surprise since I wasn't expecting it. "You've come this far and now you want to back out? You've wanted to know who you were from the time you woke up from that capsule! The Ayame I know wouldn't do that! She wouldn't give up so easily even if she were scared! I'm never gonna give up on you, but the question is are you gonna give up on yourself?"
I stared wide-eyed at Jr. from what he said and felt something inside me stir in response. Something about it got to me, but not in a bad way. And then I suddenly felt bad when I finally realized what it was I've been saying and I felt so guilty, so sad…
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Jr.…" I said quietly. "It was selfish of me to say that…to want to give up so easily when I'm so close just because I'm scared."
"It's okay. You're not selfish since you hardly ask for anything." Jr. took his hands away from my face and smiled. "I think we better back to looking for the others before they start worrying."
"Okay."
Both Jr. and I got up and headed in the direction chaos and Lilith headed in. We soon found them but they weren't alone! MOMO, Ziggy, and Jin were with them!
"MOMO! Ziggy! Jin! You're all here!" I exclaimed.
"Looks like our disarranged group is almost here." Lilith said.
"But we're still missing Shion." Jin stated.
"Quiet!" We all went quiet when Lilith said that. "Someone's coming!"
All of us quickly ran into the bushes in order to hide just as the sound of footsteps got closer. That was when I saw the silhouette of a person walking into out line of vision.
"Don't move!" Jr. yelled, causing the person to stop.
Suddenly Jr. jumped out of his hiding spot and landed on the person with his feet, knocking them to the ground.
"Nha!" The person cried out.
I got a better look at the person and gasped when I realized who it was!
"Jr., wait!" MOMO said before she, chaos, and I jumped out of our hiding spots.
"Jr., that's not an enemy!" chaos told the red head
"What?" Jr. looked down at the person he was standing on and his eyes widened. "Oh, Shion?"
"Jr.? Why did you do that?" Shion asked, sounding slightly angry.
"Ah, sorry, I thought you were an enemy."
"Could you get off me?"
"Oh, sorry."
Jr. got off Shion, allowing the dark-haired woman to stand up just as Ziggy, Jin, and Lilith decided to come out of their hiding spots.
Shion sighed when she saw everyone. "I'm glad everyone's okay."
"Actually—" MOMO started.
"We can't find KOS-MOS or the crew of the Elsa." Jr. finished. "I'm sure they were
transported with us, but—"
"Transported? Do you mean a warp transfer?" Shion asked.
"Yeah, we don't know where we are yet, but it was probably that light."
"Oh, no." Shion looked around before her gaze set back on us. "This isn't helping us get anywhere. Let's go find KOS-MOS and the crew."
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After traversing through the area (encountering enemies on the way) we were walking up a hill and on a pathway when Shion stopped to look in the distance.
"It can't be. That's impossible. Jin…" Shion said.
"What's wrong, Shion?" Jin asked, walking over to stand next to his sister to see what she was looking at, only to gasp. "H-huh! It can't be!"
I looked in the direction Shion and Jin were looking in and my eyes widened when I saw the familiar tower.
"But it is." Jr. said. "There's no mistaking it. That's Labyrinthos."
"Labyrinthos? From Miltia?" Ziggy asked. "Wasn't it destroyed during the Conflict?"
"Yeah, I can't believe it either. But there's no doubt about it. If that exists, that means we're on Miltia, at least fifteen years ago."
"Do you mean we're in the past?" MOMO asked.
"I dunno about that. We were in the past when dove into KOS-MOS's Subconscious." Jr. stated.
Ziggy crossed his arms. "Yes, that might be possible as well."
chaos was quiet as he looked at Labyrinthos.
We continued moving through the area and after some time I heard the sound of gunshots.
"Huh!" Shion gasped.
"Gunshots!" MOMO cried.
"Over there!" Jr. pointed out.
"Let's go!" chaos said.
We started running off to where we heard the sound of gunshots coming from. We soon arrived to see two Combat Realians aiming their rifles at a wounded Federation soldier with blonde hair, a nearby soldier not too far away that was already dead.
"Jin?" Shion asked.
"Quiet!" He said, turning his attention to the scene in front of us.
"Dammit! I can't die before I rendezvous with the main unit!" I heard the Federation soldier say. I noticed that he was aiming his handgun at the Realians.
"Those are combat Realians. Looks like they're against Federation soldiers." Ziggy said.
"What do you wanna do?" Jr. asked. "He's not going to last long."
"We can't just abandon someone who's hurt. Let's help him!" Shion decided.
We ran into the area with our weapons out and ready to fight the two Combat Realians. I took care of one of the Realians with the help of Lilith, Jr., and MOMO, while Shion, Jin, Ziggy, and chaos took care of the other one. It took some time but we eventually defeated the two Combat Realians before checking up on the wounded Federation soldier.
"Who the hell are you?" The soldier asked. He quickly drew his handgun out and aimed it at us. "Drop your weapons. I'll shoot you if you don't follow— Nghaa…"
Shion gasped. "Huh? It can't be. Lieutenant Virgil?"
"Virgil? The Testament?" Jr. asked.
"Yes, he looks a little different, but there's no doubt it's him. But how?" Shion asked.
"How do you know my—" The soldier who we discovered was actually Virgil grunted in pain.
"He's hurt." She gasped.
Shion started approaching Virgil but then he aimed his gun at her just as she got closer.
"Don't touch me!"
"Don't move and let me treat your wound!"
"Nha…"
Virgil passed out from his wounds and dropped his gun. Jin came over and kneeled next to him in order to check on him.
"What should we do?" Ziggy asked.
"We help him! What else?" Shion said.
"I agree with Shion." I added.
"But he's a Testament, right?" Jr. asked.
"Don't ask me. I don't know."
"His wounds are serious." chaos stated. "If we don't do something soon—"
"We can't leave him here." Ziggy said.
"Yes. At any rate, let's find a safe location." Jin turned to MOMO. "MOMO, please lend me a hand. I'm going to stop the bleeding."
"Okay!"
MOMO came over to help Jin with tending to Virgil's wounds. We waited a bit and the two successfully tended to his wounds.
"That should do it. Let's hurry and get him somewhere he can rest." Jin said.
Ziggy picked Virgil up and carried him as we moved on to the next area. As we wandered into the area we spotted a woman from the distance standing amongst some flowers.
"Is someone there?" Ziggy asked.
"That's Feb?" Shion said.
"Feb? As in Febronia?" I thought, remembering the white-haired Realian from when we were in KOS-MOS's Subconscious.
Febronia took a flower before leaving, walking down the path that was ahead of us.
"Hey, wait!"
"Shion!" MOMO called. "Virgil's getting worse."
"His condition is critical! We have to find somewhere to treat him, quickly!" Jin said urgently.
"But where?" Jr. asked.
"Wait! There should be a church up ahead." Shion suddenly said after quickly thinking.
"A church?"
Shion nodded. "Yes. When I woke up in this forest, I felt strange. But if this is Miltia, and that's Feb, then this is a place I know well. If we follow her, we should arrive at an old church."
"There's no time to hesitate. Let's carry him there." Jin said.
With that we started making our way down the path and sure enough we came upon an old church that I recognized as the one I saw a year ago in KOS-MOS's Subconscious, and next to it was a dark vehicle.
"This is—" MOMO started.
"We saw this place in KOS-MOS's subconscious." Ziggy stated.
"Yes. I met Febronia here." Shion turned to face Ziggy. "The place holds a lot of memories for me and Feb. He can rest inside here. Let's go."
We began to approach the doors of the church and went inside.
"Is anyone there? We have an injured person." Shion called out. There was no response in the empty church. "May we let him rest here?"
Suddenly a young girl with shoulder length dark hair wearing a blue dress and glasses came out. She appeared to be about 8 years old and looked familiar.
"Who are you?" The young girl asked.
"Nhah!" Shion gasped.
"Feb! Feb! We've got guests." She called as he rushed off to the door near the back
"That's me?"
No wonder the girl looked familiar. It was Shion from 15 years ago. I saw a young man and Febronia walk out from the door the young Shion was standing near.
"What's all the noise?" The young man asked before turning to us. "Who are you people?"
"Wha-!"
"Well? What's going on?"
The young man and Febronia walked over to our group.
"Oh, um, we found someone hurt nearby. His wounds are serious and we can't move him, so we came here." Shion explained.
"Someone hurt?" Febronia asked. She went over to Ziggy who was holding Virgil's unconscious body and gasped. "Oh, no! Hurry, this way!" She started running off.
"Febronia, wait." The young man said, causing the Realian to stop. "This man is a Federation soldier. Do you realize what you're doing?"
Febronia turned to him "He may be an enemy soldier, but he's still hurt!"
"I don't think that's a good idea. You're a U-TIC Organization Realian, remember? It's bad enough that you're here at all."
"U-TIC?" Jr. said in surprise.
Shion took a step closer to the two people.
"Please! He's going to die!" Shion said.
"I know. Take him to the back room." Febronia said.
The young man faced Febronia as young Shion approached them. He crossed his arms.
"Maybe I should have Professor Mizrahi be a little more strict in the management of Realians. You're a valuable transgenic model. We can't lose you before your growth is complete." He said.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let him die."
"Febronia!" He started raising his voice.
"If you want to call the soldiers go ahead."
Young Shion came over to Febronia and held onto her arm.
The young man looked like he couldn't take it anymore and gave up.
"Ahh, fine. I wouldn't want to cause a problem with your mental balance over something like this. I'll pretend I don't know about it." He turned to us. "Her maintenance medical kit is outside. It's for Realians, but it should be better than nothing."
"Thank you!" Shion said.
"Don't mention it. It's not like he's going to live, anyway." He walked off.
"Ah-!"
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I sat on one of the pews with Lilith as the others were in the back room trying to take care of Virgil. Through the closed door I somehow managed to catch the word 'transplant' and instantly knew that the soldier's wounds were more serious than we thought.
"I hope he's okay…" I said quietly.
"Why are you saying that? He's an enemy, remember?" Lilith asked.
I turned to Lilith.
"I know he's an enemy, but I can't help but feel sorry for him. He needed our help."
"Heh!" She lowered her head and crossed her arms. "Good Samaritan principle, huh?"
Just then I noticed young Shion coming out from the back room ran over to where we were when she spotted us.
"There you are!" She said cheerfully. "I was looking for you."
"Looking for us?" I asked, completely surprised.
"Yeah! You look like nice people so I wanted to give you these."
Young Shion held out two flowers that I recognized to be a purple iris and a white lily. She smiled as she handed me the purple iris and handed the white lily to Lilith.
"These are for us?" I looked at her as she sat down next to me on the pew.
"Uh-huh. I grew them myself. Aren't they pretty?"
"Yes, they're beautiful." I told her. "I'm growing some flowers of my own."
"Really? What kind?"
"They're Japanese irises. I got the seeds from a friend of mine on my birthday."
I heard Lilith scoff and turned to look at to see that she was giving me a look that say 'a friend, huh?' I turned back to Young Shion and smiled.
"Thank you for the flowers." I said.
"You're welcome. My name's Shion. What's yours?"
"My name is Ayame."
"And my name's Lilith." Said person said.
"Those are pretty names. Now we can be friends!"
I smiled.
"Friends…"
We talked for some time about casual things like favorite colors and animals. I found myself enjoying the conversation even if it wasn't anything specific. As I watched and listened to young Shion I couldn't help but wonder what my childhood was like. Just then she stood up from the pew.
"I wonder how Feb is doing?" She said.
"Would you like to see her?" I asked.
"Yes."
I turned to Lilith.
"Let's take her to see Feb."
Lilith and I followed young Shion through the back door and found the older Shion talking to Febronia who was laying down on top of a treatment machine with a cover over her body. I could see chaos standing in the corner of the room.
"Feb, are you okay?" Young Shion asked.
"Yes, I'm okay, Shion. Everything's fine." Febronia said to the little girl.
"Your name's Shion?" The older counterpart asked, sounding puzzled.
"Yeah. Did you and your friends come in that green ship?" The little girl asked.
"Green ship?"
"Yeah. A pretty ship I've never seen before came down by the east cave. You were on it, right?"
Older Shion turned to chaos. "Could that be the Elsa?"
"Yes. It makes sense for the Elsa to have been sent to the same place with us." chaos replied. "We should check it out."
Just then the young man from earlier walked into the room looking extremely disturbed.
"I can't believe you went and did this. They're going to question my supervision." He said.
There was a brief pause as the young man seemed disturbed.
"I did it on my own. I won't bring any trouble upon you." Febronia told him.
"I certainly hope not. It's about time for the Organization to show up. Could I ask you all to leave? It's only going to complicate matters if you are here."
"What about him?" Older Shion asked.
"Sorry, but he has to stay right here. There is going to be serious trouble is someone finds out I helped an enemy soldier. Once we're gone, you can do as you please."
"All right." Shion turned to her younger counterpart. "Shion, thanks for telling me about the ship."
"Sure. Goodbye." Young Shion said.
We all left the church and walked away from the church before stopping.
"She said that the green ship landed in the cave mine to the east." Shion said. "We should avoid being seen until we know what's going on. Let's go through the Dabrye Mine to the south."
With that in mind we proceeded to the Dabrye Mine.
ATE: So glad that I finally got this done. Well, now I can take a bit of a break and relax until I start writing up chap 12. Please remember to review! :)
